Aarhus University’s new CO2 research center opens officially

The Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center (CORC) was established on 1 January 2022 at Aarhus University being the first solely mission-driven research center funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The seven-year-project has been awarded with a grant of 630 million DKK (84.7 million EUR) and will have a unique interdisciplinary approach to develop novel innovative ideas and early technology platforms to solve the greenhouse gas-based climate crisis.

The center is the first of its kind at Aarhus University. Brian Bech Nielsen, rector at Aarhus University shared his vision for the center when the plans were launched in September 2021:

"For our society it is essential that we use our deep knowledge and strong research capacity to scrutinise the potential for mitigating the amount of CO2. We must change our behaviour – the big question is how? And how fast? This immense societal challenge call for research, technology development and not least interdisciplinary collaboration, which is the spirit of this centre. It will become a global centre of excellence and I have great expectations for this initiative."

This captures the very essence of what the center is aiming at; taking a holistic approach to mitigating greenhouse gas-based climate change not only by way of new technologies but also through reaching out to politicians, industry and the general public. The center has to engagie in dialogues about the imminent changes that will happen and how we can all contribute to decarbonization – and at the same time come up with new technical solutions.

New technologies don’t develop rapidly, so we must work hard now to be able to leave new ideas for future generations on how to deal with the carbon problem.

The research center has great ambitions to develop innovative science for CO2 capture and conversions for storage or utilization to replace fossil carbon and fossil fuel‐intensive processes with sustainable, CO2‐based technologies.

“CO2 in the atmosphere is one of the main causes of man-made climate change, and although we obviously need to decarbonize through lowering our emissions, new carbon removal technologies are also needed in the long run, if we want to stay below the 2ºC increase in surface temperature. CORC’s mission is to develop new science and early technologies which will ultimately be the tools for future generation to remove the excess CO2 from the atmosphere,” says Professor Alfred M. Spormann, executive director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Center.

Official opening event

While the hub of the center is based in Aarhus, CORC includes 10 research groups at universities in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Tübingen, Utrecht and Stanford, w here the groups are working across their fields to develop the center’s first research tracks in carbon removal. Meanwhile, the center’s administrative team has been set up, and CORC will be open for visitors in the center’s new offices at Gustav Wieds Vej 10C by July 2022.

Four of the center’s research groups will be based the same building together with CORC, and the center will be hosting visiting researchers, industry representatives, journalists and other collaborators, who are interested in the center’s activities for shorter or longer periods of time.

On 13 June, the center will be inaugurated officially with a networking event with short talks from AU’s rector Brian Bech Nielsen, the CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen as well as the Executive Director of CORC, Alfred M. Spormann.

Sign up for the event here: https://events.au.dk/corcopening